On Fiction, Part 2

In a previous post, I mentioned briefly that I prefer the Beast Wars/Beast Machines TV series to the likes of the Generation 1 cartoon and more recent entries like the Unicron Trilogy. The truth of it is that I didn't watch all of Beast Wars when it was on UK television because I missed some episodes either due to homework or other commitments... or just the extremely patchy showing it got, courtesy of Children's ITV back in the day. It was only a few years ago that I scored a free copy of the first volume of Beast Machines on DVD, but I enjoyed it so much, I tracked down and purchased the full series.

I watched it very nearly in one sitting - ending up forcibly rationing myself so that I could actually do other, more important things and then 'reward' myself with an episode or two of the series.

Beast Machines Blackarachnia

Spiders are not my favourite creatures on this world of ours, so it's rather strange that I tend to be so fond of TransFormers spiders. The original Beast Wars Blackarachnia was just a repaint of Tarantulas, not one of Beast Wars' finest models, but her Beast Machines upgrade was rather more interesting, both for its eerily-almost-realistic beast mode, and its slender, slinky robot mode... at least, in the TV series...

TransFormers Collectors' Club 2011 Exclusive (Timelines) Cheetor

Another year, another couple of Collectors' Club exclusives. This time round, they offered Animated TransTech Cheetor, with a new head designed by TF:Animated supremo Derrick J. Wyatt, and Classics Generation 2 Ramjet. Personally, I can't stand G2's lurid colourschemes, and I already have Classics Ramjet... the Classics Seeker mold is getting seriously overused. Thankfully, that just means I get to save money this year, and only get one (seriously cool) exclusive.

Beast Machines Megatron Megabolt

This toy was released as part of the Robots in Disguise line, but it's perfectly obvious to anyone that it doesn't fit that line. The closest it comes to RiD, supposedly, is that it fits into the HeadMaster space on Fortress/Brave Maximus but, with no actual connector piece, it seems unlikely that this was intentional.

The design is actually based upon Megatron's battleship from the final few episodes of Beast Machines, and the overall aesthetic - not to mention the rather garish colourscheme - suits that range far more closely. Scale is a bit of an issue... Considering the battleship was huge - almost a city in itself - and this thing is the equivalent of a Deluxe toy. Had it been made to fit its original scale, its robot mode would be colossal... but Megatron's battleship never actually transformed in Beast Machines, nor was there any real indication that it could. Nevertheless, robot mode's head design most closely resembles Megatron's Beast Machines appearance, particularly when the mask - attached to the missile launcher - is engaged.